Detroit Lions' WR Calvin Johnson not going anywhere, at least not for a couple seasons

Mike Mulholland | MLive.comWide receiver Calvin Johnson is here to stay, for at least two more seasons.

During Monday's broadcast of "The Dan Patrick Show," the host after which the show is named casually dropped this nugget when discussing the Detroit Lions' selection of tight end Eric Ebron in the first round of the 2014 NFL draft

"I think this is more Megatron related," Patrick said, referring to All-Pro receiver Calvin Johnson. "I don't know. I'll go by what I was told last week, they may look to get out from underneath that contract with Calvin Johnson."

While that opinion may have been floated to Patrick, it's not grounded in reality.

Johnson is entering the second season of a seven-year, $132 million contract extension he signed with Detroit in 2012. And while we know the final numbers for NFL deals are fake, the Lions committed enough guaranteed money to the superstar wideout ($60 million) that the financial ramifications make it impossible to to move him in the immediate future.

Currently, Johnson is scheduled to have a $13 million cap hit next season. We say currently because there's a reasonable chance he reduces his $5 million base salary to facilitate the signing of the team's draft class. But the $13 million isn't the important number when talking about trading or releasing a player, it's the dead money remaining on the deal. In this case, we're talking $29 million.

The Lions are already butting up against the cap. How in the world would they find the room to absorb another $16 million cap penalty? Even if the nonsensical move happened after June 1, when the team would be permitted to split the hit over two seasons, it would still cost more to trade Johnson than to retain him in 2014.

Let's assume Patrick's statement wasn't referring to the immediate future. Well, Johnson's cap number and dead money are separated by less than $1 million in 2015. Still, why would the Lions consider moving one of the NFL's best players with no real financial gain, unless another team is offering multiple first-round picks?

The Lions won't truly need to weigh the value of rostering Johnson until 2016, when his $24 million cap number will be nearly double the $12.9 million it would cost to let him go.

At that stage, Johnson will be a few months from his 31st birthday and it will be apparent how his body is holding up and if the players around him have developed enough to carry the load.

But that's two full years away and there's little reason to be thinking about it now.

Just know, Johnson isn't going anywhere, at least not in the immediate future. Even if the Lions wanted to get out from under the contract -- which there's no indication beyond this casual mention from Patrick -- there's almost no benefit to doing so until 2016.